Good afternoon. Alarming videos have been shared on social media from Cabo Delgado province in the last week about a new scare story that has been spreading across the province. One of them shows a mob of young men confronting an older man and beating him with long sticks; it is not clear from the video if he got away. An elderly man was also treated for being beaten at the rural hospital in Mocímboa da Praia district on Sunday. The reason for these attacks is a rumour that people, specifically men, are losing their biological sex after being touched by the hand of another man. Supposed victims complain that they have lost their genitals, even though it is easy to prove that they have not. The superstition has spread southward from Tanzania, where there are reports from all over the country about people complaining that they have been afflicted. Starting in the northernmost districts of Cabo Delgado, it has now reached the southernmost ones and crossed over into Nampula.
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Not everyone who believes in this rumour is an illiterate peasant. One video shows teachers in the town of Chiúre discussing it, apparently believing the claims to be real. The people accused are all elderly men, suggesting that this might be a twist on traditional accusations of witchcraft. There is a danger, and it is reasonable to suspect, that some people are taking advantage of this superstition to victimise their enemies or to rob neighbours who are envied for their relative wealth.
Reports of this panic in Mozambique have only emerged in the last week, and so far, there has been no coherent response from the authorities. Indeed, there has been no response at all except for the police, who have taken the accusations at face value. This week the provincial youth council (an organisation generally dominated by the ruling Frelimo party) issued a statement urging calm and condemning vigilantism. Notably, however, it made no attempt to point out that the superstition is false.
